Invest in pipeline, railway to reduce oil tanker accidents

A fortnight ago, a news item read: “As many as 70 people were feared dead after a fuel tanker and six commuter buses crashed in southern Nigeria.”

This is not different from what happened in Molo in January this year where over 100 Kenyans perished and others seriously injured.

Leaders went to Sachang’wan to console and condole and all appears to have been forgotten, until, of course, a similar case occurs and the VIP rituals will be repeated.

Let us look at similar petroleum transport incidents in the region:

Iganga in Uganda in 2002 where about 80 people died; Kasese in Uganda in 2003 where a bus collided with a fuel tanker and killed over 50 people; Sidindi near Kisumu where 25 people died; and, at Muchatha near Nairobi in 2004 where 10 died.

I am sure similar stories can be found all over the Third World.

I stress the ‘Third World’ because they are not common in developed countries where they have effective systems for managing road safety.

In the last month, Kenya has been hit by PSV accidents with high casualties.

What followed is the blame game but no decisive action plans to reduce or stop these happenings in the future.

There are two very high risk road transport sectors that should be of priority and be well regulated: the petroleum sector because of hazardous cargo they carry and the PSV sector because of precious human life.

Let me concentrate on transporting petroleum and the accidents.

Most of the serious accidents have occurred on long journeys from one city to another or from one country to the next.

Some accidents have occurred when villagers scoop spilt fuel while others are a result of exposed vehicle electricals.

How can we get long distance trucks off the roads?

Before the advent of the pipeline in 1978 and before the demise of the then EAC, the rail system dispatched products from Mombasa to all depot towns as far as Kasese in Uganda and Moshi in Tanzania.

There was no town-to-town trucking of petroleum.

Trucks were used only for deliveries to customers and service stations.

It is an extended oil pipeline network across the region and also improved rail capacity and efficiency that will help.

Pipeline and rail infrastructures should feature prominently in any regional planning for “corridor” improvement, not purely because of road accidents but because it is an economic priority for the region.

We are aware that the Energy Regulatory Commission is working on petroleum regulations that will include petroleum road transportation safety.

The Energy Act 2006 from which the Commission borrows specifically requires that petroleum transporters be licensed by ERC and their drivers to obtain certification from the regulator.

The law also requires that municipalities provide safe parking for tankers.

The ERC rules will ensure that transporters and drivers will be able to meet road transport safety criteria before they are authorised to transport and the tankers meet minimum safety standards.

If managed and enforced effectively, the ERC initiative may provide the beginning of an end to petroleum road transport disasters.

I know it is achievable because a major oil company in Kenya has done it.

The company has over the years developed safety-compliant transporters who have worked with the oil company as partners to achieve targets.

I am informed that one of the major transporters has been graded among the top safe petroleum transporters in their group in Africa.

Through a system of training and retraining, audits and follow-ups, incentives and sanctions, the oil firm has achieved professionalism.

Driver fatigue

The oil firm appears to accept that most long-haul accidents will occur because of driver fatigue, exhaustion, sleep, and in many cases use of alcohol and drugs.

The company focuses heavily on driver monitoring to ensure that they are fit to drive at all times.

The oil company also focuses on vehicle maintenance and route hazards awareness.

Drivers are coached on managing emergency situations should they occur.

The EAC will need to harmonise road safety standards and enforcement for the long-haul transporters.

Turning to PSV safety, the Ministry of Transport needs to take serious ownership of the existing passenger safety problem and come up with new enforceable regulations.

Key among them are the minimum age permissible for a PSV driver, special skills training for certification of PSV drivers, fatigue and sleep control measures that ensure the drivers are fit to drive by limiting maximum working hours, medical tests for specific ailments that interfere with driver concentration (for example diabetes, blood pressure, eye sight and hearing among others), and random tests by police on alcohol.

Road courtesy

We would wish to see the establishment of an academy for advanced driving that will transfer special skills for sensitive sectors like PSV and petroleum transportation among others.

They should be taught on road courtesy, handling emergencies, and handling customers/passengers among other competencies.

We are aware that the government has revived the National Road Safety Council and it is hoped that they will address management of road safety more holistically by working on road safety laws and advise on appropriate road safety management systems.

We also hope that the Council will be sufficiently resourced with money and experts and empowered to take action.

We expect the Council to approach road safety the way NACADA and NACC have visibly managed their respective portfolios.

Mr Wachira works for Petroleum Focus Consultants. Email: Wachira@petroleumfocus.com